Man tries to expose self to child at Daytona Beach hotel, police say

Monday

Aug 26, 2013 at 11:49 AMAug 26, 2013 at 8:47 PM

t Bryan Lee Swaim stood in the stairwell near the pool exit and touched himself in a lewd manner five times as he tried to get the attention of a child who was on the pool deck with family, police say.

By Lyda Longalyda.longa@news-jrnl.com

DAYTONA BEACH — When Sahdev Bhakta looked at the bank of security cameras at the beach front hotel he manages and saw the shirtless man on the stairwell leading to the pool, he had staff call 9-1-1.When he reached the north stairwell of the Boardwalk Inn and Suites he came face to face with a man in dark shorts touching himself, according to a Daytona Beach police reports. The door to the stairwell facing the pool, was open.According to an arrest report, 47-year-old suspect Bryan Lee Swaim stood in the stairwell near the pool exit and touched himself in a lewd manner five times as he tried to get the attention of a child who was on the pool deck with family. Bhakta caught Swaim in the act after the suspect had been in the stairwell for 20 minutes, the report states.“I was looking at the bank of security cameras and I saw him doing what he was doing and I told the front desk to call 9-1-1,” Bhakta said Monday. “He just took off on the beach. I wanted to make sure we caught him.”Bhakta chased Swaim as the suspect ran south on the beach; the hotel manager passed a lifeguard and also told him to call 9-1-1. Bhakta chased Swaim into the residential area across from the hotel and lost sight of him near Vermont Avenue, the report shows. He spotted some residents sitting outside a house on Vermont and they told him where Swaim had run to, the report shows. Bhakta waited for officers at A1A and Vermont and police arrested Swaim at an apartment building at the 600 block of Vermont, the report states.When investigators reviewed the hotel’s surveillance video they saw that Swaim had been lurking in the stairwell for roughly 20 minutes. They also saw that he was attempting to gain the attention of the child outside by bending down and waving to the youngster.According to the police report he’s committed similar offenses in Duval, St. Johns and Marion counties. He is not a registered sex offender, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.Swaim has been charged with lewd and lascivious exhibition by a person 18 years or older and loitering and prowling in a place frequented by children. He is being held at the Volusia County Branch jail with no bail allowed.